MONDAY COMMENTARY – JUST IMAGINE
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)
Sunday was an uplifting day!
Unless you’re a fan of the Edmonton Elks.
The 2023 CFL season kicked off for both the Elks and Saskatchewan Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium before a league-high crowd of over 32,000. A very, very large number of those wore Green & White rather than the Green & Gold of the home team, but no matter. That’s always been the case.
I was there – (I think that’s going to be the title of my next book) – and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. The weather was pretty much perfect, the game was close, and went down to the final minute with Sask winning 17-13 to snap a 7-game losing streak.
But about those Elks. That was their 18th consecutive home loss. I sat before the game with TSN sideline reporter Ryan Rishaug and truly tried to get our heads around how long that streak of futility actually is.
Years!
But that’s no reflection on the Elks front office people, and before them, the Eskimos.
We had two seats waiting for us in the Commonwealth Stadium press box with a nameplate that read “Rod Pedersen Show”. The Edmonton franchise has always treated me first class, even in the throes of the old Riders/Eskimos rivalry. I’d try over and over to get their goat but they never bit.
They’re above it.
But now they have a long road back to respectability on the field and that season-opening loss didn’t help. This morning they’re all over Edmonton quarterback Taylor Cornelius in the Alberta capital, and for good reason.
But for Saskatchewan, it was a great start. From my vantage point, the Riders are a talented team, are well-coached, and made far less mistakes in this one than the team on the other side of the field.
You just can’t buy the veteran presence of Rider quarterback Trevor Harris. Well … I guess you can, and the Riders did.
They don’t need to apologize for beating football’s “home team” version of the Washington Generals, just because everybody does.
But, just imagine if they didn’t.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE and YouTube)
I was there too!
What really got me was how other than those in the stadium; nobody knew the game was on.
It felt like a home game in every sense.
I think Victor Cui mindset is to do the guaranteed win or free tickets just to get people in the stadium.
It was a great time and game day experience.
May I just say. As a 41 yr CFL diehard I have never witnessed a Roughrider away game. Commonwealth Stadium for us old CFL guys. This has to be on par and in my case way ahead of venues I grew up watching on TV. The Big House, Lambeau Field, Giant Stadium, Jerry World etc – this was as close to a religious experience to be where Warren Moon played and all of those legends. What I would do for marketing is simply say – if you don’t get this league you are simply an idiot. To actually see Bryan… Read more »
Harris looks washed. This is going to be a long season. Should have stuck with Farjado.
Harris has got way more to offer than “happy feet” Cody…if you watched Cody Saturday it was the same old same old.The guy doesnt even have pressure and decides to bail and spin.Half those record sacks last year were on Cody not the Oline.
One man does not a team make. 2022 Saskatchewan Roughriders a complete utter failure top to bottom on and off the field of play.
Yes, Harris a old brittle highly overpriced qb. He’s not the answer.
neither are you!! The Riders won, what more do you want!!!!
There’s going to a BIG WAKEUP CALL raining down on the Saskatchewan Roughriders upper management when the Blue Bombers of Winnipeg set foot on Taylor Field at Mosaic Stadium to demolish any aspirations Riderville think they have of playing for a CFL championship. The Roughriders will not be playing in the big game anytime soon under the current team regime. It’s high time the Riders organization as a whole start over with new personnel top to bottom.
If the CFL refs and the league itself can’t get right_ (blowing a very obvious Elks touchdown that would have garnered a victory over a listless Roughriders team maybe it’s high time the CFL takes a copy from curling where they have a signal embedded in the curling rock for hog line violations. The CFL could and should embed the same signal in a football that would indicate fairly when the ball crosses the goalline for a 6-point game score. The referee’s cant do their job, so get proactive CFL.
Just because the ball crosses the goal line does not always mean a touchdown. Knees could be down first and still signal a TD.